“For millennials, FOMO is not just a cultural phenomenon, it’s an epidemic, writes Eventbrite. “In a world where news feeds and social media broadcast what friends are experiencing, the fear of missing out propels millennials to show up, share and engage: a driving force behind the experience economy.”

FOMO marketing acknowledges this fact and uses it as leverage to capture the attention of consumers, get them to react and ultimately buy.

Using FOMO Correctly

Before I dive into the actual ways to use this strategy, I feel I should point something out.

FOMO marketing should be used responsibly.

The thing about FOMO is that its impact lies largely in its ability to trigger negative emotions.

Then, they display their most popular products with compelling visuals and price information.

The page is spacious, so popular products easily catch the visitor’s attention.

Instead of directing the visitor back to the homepage, they give them a starting point. And if many people purchased these items, chances are they’re worth checking out. (Notice how social proof works here, too.)

Another approach is diversifying product categories and adding the items you want to promote manually.

Instead of drawing an automated list of best-sellers, they suggest items they’ve picked manually for this page.

If you want to do something similar for your online store, you can even tweak the copy to focus on how you took your time and handpicked them to give the visitor a more exclusive feeling.

What I like the most in this example is how they include heart buttons to help you add the items quickly to your wishlist. Even if the visitors don’t buy these products right away, you can help them enter the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey and, even better, retarget them later.

2. Guide Your Visitors with Categories

Let me tell you the one thing that I hate the most about 404 pages: Getting no guidance at all.

I stumbled upon this 404 page a few days ago:

No direction, no link, no navigation… No guidance whatsoever.

What do you think I did next?

I closed the tab and never returned.

And this is the last thing you want your visitors to do.

As explained in the Strategy #1, suggesting a list of curated products to visitors gives them a good starting point.

But if you want to guide visitors in an even more gentle way, you can ask them to start with category pages.

For one, it’s easier for the visitor to take the next step with product categories. If they were looking for a dress before landing on a 404 page, for example, they can easily move forward by clicking a related category.

If you get lost, they help you find your way back. And they only ask you one question: Are you interested in male or female personal care products?

Simplifying the suggestions is a better option than listing all the product categories you have on your site. Pick the ones that perform the best or divide them by gender, and find out what works better for your online store.

3. Help Visitors Find What They’re Looking For

Sometimes users will land on your site knowing exactly what they want to buy. (And isn’t that the best type of customer, anyway?)

Recommending individual products or product categories as the next step is a great idea, but make sure that you support recommendations with a search bar.

Giving your visitors the ability to search the product or the feature they have in mind is (almost) a guaranteed way to help them find the page they’re specifically interested in.

Using a search bar, product categories, and handpicked items, the company makes sure they cover every position the visitor might be in.

(Note: You should be mindful while combining these strategies. You don’t want to confuse visitors with too many calls-to-actions and multiple directions.)

The focus of your 404 page also depends on the type of business you’re running.

If you own an e-commerce site selling technical products and if your customers are usually informed about what they’re looking for, you can make the search bar the focus of attention on your 404 page.

If you’re a fashion e-tailer, it might be a good idea to prioritize selected categories or best-sellers on the page.

And if you’re selling hard-to-categorize or high-end items, you might want to handpick the products you want to put on display (and even rotate them monthly.)

4. Offer More Than Products

When you run an e-commerce site, it’s quite normal to give all your energy (and attention) to your product pages.

But keep in mind that your visitors won’t always be looking for a product you offer.

There might be several other reasons why people visit your site—getting after-sales support, asking for product information, submitting a complaint or giving you a praise, or simply having a chat with you on any matter that is important to them.

If you ignore these possibilities and get too salesy on your 404 pages, you might scare those visitors away.

Give your visitors a chance to reach out to you, whether it’s a customer service request or the reason why they’ve ended up on a 404 page (which might give you a chance to fix it.)

The company prefers a simple and text-based design. They include links to the homepage, product categories, contact information, and other relevant pages (such as delivery, return, or careers).

Harvey Nichols doesn’t assume that every site visitor comes with an intention to buy. Instead, they try to be helpful.

How can you take this example and make it even better?

Rather than simply listing your contact information, you could create a “Get in Touch” campaign that only shows on certain pages (including 404) using our Connect with Visitors feature. This way, you’ll both help your visitors with their problems and collect valuable leads.

If you’re offering product support, user guides, or a store locator on your site, they can be good additions to your 404 page, too.

If you have any other pages on your site that have a high traffic volume (for example, a quiz or a blog post that received lots of attention), you might consider adding them to your 404 page, too.

Who knows? Maybe it’s the page visitors are looking for.

5. Collect Email Addresses

If you’re already collecting email addresses on your e-commerce site, you must know that offering an incentive can significantly boost your signup conversions.

In a recent consumer study, more than 80% of the participants reported that they sign up for email lists in order to receive special offers and discounts.

Offering a coupon on your 404 page can ease the frustration of your visitors and motivate them to continue shopping. Plus, collecting their email addresses gives you a second chance to make a better impression with , and bring visitors back to your site.

Their 404 page follows a logical order. First, they inform you about the error you got. Then, they suggest running a search or looking at their recommended product categories: “New In”, “Trends”, and “Great Offers”.

And if you want Vero Moda to inform you about what’s new, trending, or on sale, then you can sign up for the email list. Plus, you get £5 off. What more can you ask for?

The flow makes sense to the reader and gives them multiple actions t0 choose from—without overwhelming the visitor with too many messages.

6. Optimize Your 404 Page Copy

I’ve seen so many error pages putting the blame on the user by saying things like: You must have clicked a wrong link, taken a wrong turn, made a typo or so on…

You can almost feel someone rolling their eyes and judging you behind the screen.

Another common practice I see is redirecting 404 pages to the homepage. But this might scare the visitor away if they don’t understand what just happened.

That’s certainly one way of doing it. But you can easily optimize your error page copy to give the visitor an explanation, reduce frustration, and guide them to something better.

First, they explain why you get this error code and reassure you by saying “Never fear, chances are the product or article you were looking for still does exist.”

Then, they show you the ways to find what you were looking for. (And they consider that it can be something other than a product.)

Lastly, they suggest you some trending items, in case you want to continue shopping from there.

It doesn’t take much effort but you can see how they try to connect and empathize with the visitor to ease their frustration.

Another position you can take on your 404 page copy is humor and Vinomofo does it so well:

Using Liam Neeson’s famous lines from the movie Taken, the company tries to cheer you up and create an understanding.

It works for Vinomofo because this tone is consistent with their overall voice. Of course, this may not be an option for every e-commerce business out there, but you know your visitors better.

You can always find something that resonates with your audience and tweak your error page copy based on that.

(Going back to the Vinomofo example, I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t guide me to a product page or offer a search option after taking the pressure off.)

7. Get Creative

Maybe you can’t write bold or funny 404 messages on your site, but you can still get a little creative.

This next one is, by far, my favorite. And it’s not because they just wrote something funny or used a cute GIF.

They actually went the extra mile.

So this is what you see when you end up on a 404 page on the Tattly website:

You actually find a hidden product.

Isn’t that smart?

And it gets better. When you click the “Press for Magic” button, it takes you to a special product page:

The product description reads: “It’s only accessible if you land on our Error 404 page. Aren’t you glad you got a little lost?”

I surely am!

This is a good example of getting creative on 404 pages because it’s fun and catches attention. It also creates an exclusive feeling by letting you know that you unlocked something not everyone can easily access.

Tattly knows their products and the audience so well. When I reached out to Cristina Gómez, Tattly Design Director, she told me,

"Tina, our founder, loves it when 404 pages are joyful or fun, and at Tattly we love injecting fun into whatever we can. Hiding a product on our 404 page seemed like the best way to bring the Tattly spirit to a normally mundane page on a site."

So how you want to get creative depends on your business and customers but I’m sure you can come up with something even better, if you’re willing to take that extra step further.

I visited more than 150 e-commerce sites while looking for examples for this article.

You’ll be surprised to know how many big brands are underusing their 404 pages. There are so many hidden opportunities; so much lost potential revenue.

404 doesn’t necessarily have to mean exit.

That’s why I wanted to share how you can learn from the better examples and start helping visitors stay on your site, collecting their email addresses, and even converting them to customers—with only minor improvements.

Which strategy is your favorite? Have you recently stumbled upon any good e-commerce 404 pages? Let me know in the comments below.

Just over a decade ago, the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology performed an experiment involving a wine taste testing.

A person was given two different types of wine. They were told that one costs $5 and the other costs $45.

But in reality, they were the exact same type of wine, only the pricing was different.

What happened?

People got more pleasure (as proven by brain scans) from drinking the $45 wine than they did from drinking the $5 wine and thought that it tasted better.

They perceived the $45 wine as being of higher quality than the $5 wine.

Head researcher Baba Shiv says, “The part of the brain that experiences pleasure will become more active when the drinker thinks he or she is enjoying the more expensive vintage.”

So in this regard, changing different factors (in this case pricing) can literally alter a person’s experience and actually affect real quality.

This goes to show just how big of an impact perceived value can have.

Capitalizing on this Phenomenon

This presents a tremendous opportunity for e-commerce brands.

Making some key adjustments means that you can increase perceived value without having to actually change anything about your product.

“Usually, customers are unaware of the factors involved in pricing a product or service, such as the actual or estimated costs of production,” Investopedia writes. “Customers rely on the emotional appeal of the product or service and their evaluation of the benefits they believe they will receive.”

Using the right techniques allows you to potentially charge more, while at the same time maximizing conversions.

Here are some of the best ways to do that.

1. Improve Design Aesthetics

The second someone lands on your e-commerce store, they form an impression of your brand.

Create a positive impression, and your perceived value will increase. Create a negative impression, and your perceived value will diminish.

And whether the impression is positive or negative largely boils down to design.

“A negative emotional reaction to some aspect of the design lowers the perceived value of the site and makes people abandon the site—often within a few seconds,” says Senior User Experience Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group, Aurora Harley. “On the other hand, if we like what we see and the page matches our expectations, we assign a high value for the website and its products or services.”

So improving design aesthetics is one of the most straightforward ways to increase perceived value.

Professional, eye-catching images are another key component. You want the pictures to “pop” and stand out.

Superfood subscription box Daily Harvest is a company that uses beautiful product images with their healthy shakes.

Just look at this one for their Acai + Cherry smoothie.

It uses a strong yet simple color palette, which looks amazing.

If your e-commerce store currently falls short of the mark, it’s usually worth the investment to redesign it so that it’s on the same level as these examples.

That right there can have a profound impact on perceived value.

2. Raise Product Price

As I mentioned with the wine tasting experiment example, pricing is one of the core elements of perceived value.

Generally speaking, people associate more expensive items as having more value.

And there’s a very simple reason for this.

“Markets in which people are not completely sure of how to assess quality, they use price as a stand-in for quality,” writes social psychologist Robert Cialdini.

I know that I do this all of the time on a subconscious level.

For instance, if I’m comparing two similar products from different brands, I tend to think that the higher priced product delivers more quality.

It’s just a natural reaction.

So I highly recommend experimenting with product pricing.

A study by MIT and the University of Chicago did this with a standard women’s clothing item. They offered the item at three different prices— $34, $39 and $44. What they found was that it sold the most at $39. Twenty-one units were purchased at $39, while only 17 units were sold at $44 and 16 units were sold at $34.

So in this case, the cheapest price actually sold the least.

This is a simple example of how tinkering with pricing and charging a bit more can potentially increase conversions and revenue.

Of course, you need to be realistic about it.

You wouldn’t, for example, want to charge $30 for a roll of paper towels.

But there’s a good chance that you could raise your price slightly and make your product seem more desirable. The trick is to find the sweet spot and roll with that.

This brings me to my next point.

3. Use Charm Pricing

People are accustomed to seeing many products with prices ending in “99.”

Something costs $4.99 rather than $5, or it’s $9,999 rather than $10,000. It’s an old school technique known as charm pricing and is based on the psychological concept that people perceive “odd prices” as being lower than they actually are.

And there’s a sound body of evidence that suggests charm pricing is effective.

My point here is that using charm pricing in conjunction with increased pricing can take conversions to their highest possible level.

4. Emphasize Quality

At first glance, it may not always be obvious just how great a product really is. This is especially true when people are shopping online and can’t physically touch it.

Another big part of increasing perceived value is making quality a point of emphasis.

Does your product source high-end materials that go above and beyond what your competitors offer? Does it have a superior level of craftsmanship that can’t be found anywhere else?

Let your customers know about it. You don’t need to scream it from the rooftops, but casually working it into your copy should be helpful.

Take this landing page from minimalist wallet provider Infinity Wallet for example.

They succinctly highlight the unique features of their product and subtly point out that it uses high-quality nylon knit elastic.

Much like Bellroy, they also offer a side-by-side comparison of their wallet versus the average wallet so customers can get a feel for its size and how unique it is.

It doesn’t need to be anything over the top, but emphasizing quality and pointing out what makes your product special should raise its value level and motivate a higher percentage of people to purchase.

They switched a graphic from saying “Never Beaten on Price” to “Authorized Dealer Site” for Seiko watches in hopes of conveying authenticity.

Here’s what the original control version looked like.

They had her feature one of their products on her Instagram account, which had 3.2 million followers as of early 2019.

Anastasia Karanikolaou isn’t a figure that the general public is familiar with, but a good chunk of beauty and fashion enthusiasts know about her.

And that’s what’s important.

You don’t need to shell out big money for celebrity endorsements. Often, it’s sufficient to reach out to industry influencers and have them vouch for your brand.

7. Point Out That a Product is Worth More Than You’re Charging

A $100 value for only $75. This is a type of deal that many shoppers are accustomed to seeing. It’s a technique that relies upon selling a product for less than the actual value. And it’s something that many people are receptive to. Customers may feel okay about buying a product for $75.

But knowing that it’s valued at $100 lets them know that they’re getting a great deal. You’re creating the perception that they’re getting more for their money, which is very appealing.

But here’s the thing: You need to be careful when using this technique. If you’re not careful, you can come off sounding like a sleazy infomercial. So be subtle about it.

8. Embrace Social Responsibility

VoucherCloud makes an interesting point that social responsibility equals value.

And I couldn’t agree more.

In our current climate, many consumers prefer to do business with brands that are socially responsible.

VoucherCloud even found that 50 percent of people aged 40-44 are willing to spend more on products from socially responsible companies.

While this may not have been a huge deal 10 years ago, it’s a big deal now.

Social responsibility is a common trait that some of the world’s top companies share.

Just think of all the success ethical apparel provider TOMS has had. They’ve grown into a $400 million dollar empire, largely because of their “one for one” concept where they donate a product to someone in need for every purchase made.

Most people love backing companies like this, and it increases perceived value.

While weaving social responsibility into a brand’s core business model and product line won’t be viable for all companies, it’s certainly an angle to be aware of and can work in some cases.

Gustave Flaubert once said, “There is no truth. There is only perception.” I think that’s a quote that sums up perceived value perfectly.

At the end of the day, good marketing is about conveying value to customers. Do that and you’ll be in a position to boost conversions and overall revenue. And as we’ve just learned, there are several ways to accomplish this.

Everything from web design optimization and adjusting pricing to being authentic and socially responsible can increase perceived value. It’s just a matter of finding the right combination and letting customers know that making a purchase is worth it.

Which aspects of a product do you feel contribute the most heavily to its value?

Specific prices work particularly well in categories such as tech. It’s not an emotional decision where the only logic is, “That’s cool. I want that. I’m gonna buy it.” People surmise that the price has been calculated by adding together the sum of the product’s parts.

In the above example, that means all of the individual pieces of hardware inside a desktop computer.

Even if your average consumer doesn’t know exactly what they are…

They know, it’s not just a made-up number.

So, use this logic-based pricing strategy, if your product is practical in nature e.g. electronics, tech, tools and so on.

2. Choose Values with Fewer Syllables

A person perceives a price to be lower if it has fewer syllables.

Research from Clark University found that even if two prices are the same length, e.g. $27.84 and $28.15, the longer the price phonetically, the higher it seems. Which would be $27.84 in this example, despite it being the lower price. It’s strange but true.

TopShop, for example, uses simple, round numbers, which thus have few syllables:

For TopShop, they don’t need to be specific, as customers make emotion-based purchases at their store. Customers can process these numbers quickly and come to a purchasing decision quickly.

For this reason, you may want to experiment with round values for your online store. If you went through all of your prices, counting every single syllable, well, it would drive you mad.

A simple way to reduce the syllable count for emotion-based purchases would be to just round off the values.

3. Lure in Customers with a Loss Leader

Imagine your local supermarket advertises disposable barbecues at a ridiculously low price. It’s so low, the customer feels like they’re robbing the supermarket blind. The supermarket is seemingly losing profits on this product…

But, they are still the puppet master, tugging on the customer’s strings.

Because they know that they will make big profits on all of the tasty steaks, beer, salad and the rest, that the customer buys along with the barbecue.

They use red to emphasize the price drop. And even slap the reduction percentage on there in a big red circle. You cannot miss this offer.

There’s no doubting that visuals have an effect on the subconscious mind. So, use them to increase conversions on your product pages.

5. Display a Product’s Registered Retail Price (RRP)

This sends a clear message to the consumer…

Look at what you could have been paying.

You can persuade visitors to make a purchase by emphasizing the stark difference between the regular retail price and your competitors’ offers.

TJ Maxx has made an entire business out of selling designer brand fashion at a fraction of the regular price. And they aren’t afraid to show it:

They show the RRP of $34 directly under their price.

If you wish to do something similar, approach this strategy with caution. It doesn’t mean that you should start pricing all of your products way lower than your competitors. When your products are already cheaper than the RRP, then be sure to display it proudly.

A well-designed category page will build engagement and drive conversions, encouraging visitors to click through to individual product pages and buy.

A great way to put this strategy into action is to place your more expensive items on the left. Because once a consumer sees an expensive item, anything after that seems like a great deal. And they will be more willing to part with their money.

Boom! You’re hit with a $2,000+ price tag straight away. The bedside tables that follow all cost much less. Therefore, customers are more willing to pay $600-1200 because at least it’s not $2,100.

7. Show the Equivalent Daily Price

When you display the equivalent daily price next to the regular price, the item the consumer was considering doesn’t seem like such an expense. This is comparable to how you might offer monthly financing options for high-ticket items.

Research into this strategy has also shown that reframing a price in terms of a common expense, such as the price of a cup of coffee, has the same effect.

As with any tactic, you can put your own unique spin on it depending on the nature of your brand.

When you get to the checkout stage, you pay a lump sum for a week’s worth of food. Yet, as you can see, HelloFresh reframes the price as the cost per serving. Framing the offer as $7.49 per serving seems reasonable, while the weekly total comes to $95.87. Which is considerably less appealing.

Depending on the price of your product, you can show its inherent value to the customer at just pennies per day.

Try tweaking your prices to see what would be most profitable for your store overall.

One site selling exercise guides split tested their price with fascinating results. Their course previously sold at $19.95 (the control price). They wanted to see if an increase to $29.95 (variation 1) altered the number of purchases. The difference in the number of buyers was minimal:

Thanks to this A/B test, the site made 61.67% more revenue by increasing their price to $29.95.

You may find that slight increases or decreases to your prices make a huge difference to your bottom line.

9. Offer Similar Products at Slightly Different Prices

Have you ever gone out for ice cream and not known which flavor to pick? There are just so many that it becomes stressful.

Price is essential to a consumer’s purchasing decisions. But modern shoppers are savvy. If your price isn’t good enough for them, they can just look elsewhere.

However, you can’t keep reducing prices if you want a successful e-commerce business. You have to employ intelligent pricing strategies to ensure your sales continue to grow.

Show consumers that your price reflects the value of your product. Turn them into loyal customers with cheap prices. Use psychological tactics to convince consumers that, in fact, your prices aren’t so high. Make sure your offers are imprinted into their subconscious.

Do all of these things and your sales will increase. Start by experimenting with either specific or rounded values depending on whether your products require logic-based or emotion-based decisions.

Which pricing strategies are you using for your online store? Leave a comment below.

Picture this: You visiting your favorite retail store. The employees already know what you like the most, what suits you best, and what you’ve been eyeing for a long time.

Simply put, they know you well enough to make your purchase easier.

In real life, you may call it an exclusive shopping experience. But in e-commerce, you can treat every visitor like an exclusive customer—thanks to e-commerce personalization.

And online shoppers expect personalization.

According to a recent report by Accenture, 91% of consumers are more likely to buy from companies who remember them and provide relevant offers. Further, 83% of them are also willing to share their data in exchange for a personalized experience.

Personalization makes customers feel special and improves their shopping experience.

And that means loyal customers and high conversion rates for your online store.

Today, I’ll show you 7 of my favorite e-commerce personalization strategies used by top e-commerce brands and how you can easily improve your conversions, too.

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In addition to suggesting products according to my preferred styles and brands, they recommend me products based on my browsing and shopping history:

What I like the most about these examples is their approach to personalized guides.

They do more than simply offering one page of size charts. They actually help me develop my style and discover new products based on my preferences and previous activities.

And of course, I will be more likely to buy something out of the items that suit me better, rather than a long list of products I won’t ever be interested in.

Even if you’re not in fashion, you can still create quizzes to learn more about the users’ favorite brands or product groups. Remember their choices and guide them better with personalized recommendations.

3. Display Recently Viewed Items

Sometimes I casually browse through a company’s products (especially when there’s a sale) but not with a strong urge to buy them.

Even though I trust my visual memory, I don’t think I can remember all the product pages I’ve visited…

And it’s a shame. Because if I visited a product page, it means I’m interested in it. So at this point, I could use some help from the store.

When you choose the US store from the top menu and visit a product page, this is what you see.

The currency is, of course, US Dollars and the size information is based on US shoe sizes.

But if you’re browsing from the UK, the size information changes into UK sizes:

This is a good example of location-based personalization because the company anticipates the problems of their visitors.

If you’re an online shopper, I’m sure you already know the trouble. You have to look for size conversion charts for every product category if you’re shopping from outside of your country.

Nobody enjoys that.

If you’re shipping to multiple locations, make sure you stay relevant to the visitor. Keep the cultural or seasonal differences in mind. After all, you wouldn’t want to suggest winter jackets when it’s 29 degrees in Australia, right?

Using geo-targeting, you can also display relevant campaigns based on the user’s location.

Here’s how Rosemunde informs visitors from the US and nudges them to shop:

5. Create Special Campaigns Based on User Behavior

No two visitors are the same.

Users who land on your site for the first time and your returning visitors have different needs and questions in mind.

Why offer both of them the exact same thing, while you can easily personalize your on-site messages?

Not every visitor becomes a customer on the first visit.

So you can offer first-time visitors an incentive to sign up for your and help them visit you again.

Here’s how My Best Book collected email addresses by offering visitors a 10% discount on their first purchase:

(By the way, this campaign converted 22% of their website visitors in one week. Not bad, huh?)

If a visitor is already a subscriber, you might want to personalize the message for them, instead of showing them another signup form.

This is the perfect opportunity to showcase your popular products or current promotions.

Here’s an example of how it might look like:

Exit-intent is another well-known example of behavior-based campaigns.

The idea is to capture visitors when they’re about to leave and convince them to take an action (usually to complete the purchase or sign up for an email list.)

Here’s how minimum collected leads with an exit-intent campaign by offering a special discount:

(In case you’re wondering, this campaign converted at 37.4%.)

It’s not only individual pages you can customize according to the user. You can also personalize your on-site messages and display highly relevant campaigns.

And they don’t leave it there. Under the birthday card, they also recommend products “they think you will love”:

Then the email is concluded with clear instructions of how and when you can redeem your voucher.

Everything you need in a perfect birthday email.

If you’re not asking for birthday information during signup, here’s a smart way of doing it later:

Chubbies add this little note to the footer of every email they send. They invite you to share your birthday information in their humorous style. And they make it obvious that there’s something in it for you.

Evoking curiosity and promising an offer. Who can resist that?

iii. Send Emails Based on User Behavior

So far I’ve talked about personalizing pages and campaigns based on user data and behavior.

If you’re already tracking visitor behavior on your e-commerce site, you can use this information to send more targeted emails to prospects.

Here’s an example Rikke found recently.

While she was browsing Frank Kern’s site, she decided to check out a video. Shortly after watching the video, here’s the email she received:

Using URL tracking, you can follow the actions visitors take on your site and follow up with them via email, just like in the example above.

In 2009, Andy Fallshaw and a few friends crowded around a kitchen table in Bells Beach, Australia to design a wallet.

Through no fault of its own, wallets had become, for want of a better term, broken. With the rise of slim tailoring in the early 2000s, they had become unsightly; “massive hunks of leather that bulged uncontrollably from pockets,” to quote Fallshaw. (Source.)

A year later, the release of his product signaled the birth of Bellroy: a company that helps people carry their everyday items with greater simplicity and ease.

Bridging the gap between style and functionality, Bellroy has carved out its own niche in the fashion industry, earning its rightful name as an e-commerce innovator which offers “the best men’s wallets you can buy.” (Source.)

I recently spent a month reverse-engineering Bellroy’s marketing strategy. And today, I’ll share 7 unconventional strategies you can use to get more traffic and higher conversions for your online store. (Strategy#4 is my favorite.)

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A day later—incidentally, on Black Friday—I got another email with the subject line, “Your Black Friday gift awaits—don’t let it disappear.”

There are a few things going in their email that are worth highlighting:

Animation;

Copy; and

User experience.

Let’s look at each briefly.

i. Animation

Bellroy have become known for their use of visuals on their product pages. And, as luck would have it, their emails are no exception.

Take their Black Friday email, for example. In it, Bellroy included a GIF that flashed up the amount of credit they were offering for multiple currencies.

One reason they might have done this was to ensure that all readers could relate to the offer.

For instance, if you’re American, $24 Australian Dollars (AUD) is harder to grasp than if it were in American Dollars (USD). Without a frame of reference for another country’s currency, it’s difficult to know whether you’re getting a good deal, meaning you’re unlikely to take action.

To remove any ambiguity, Bellroy cleverly frame their offer for each currency they accept to make it easier for potential buyers to relate to (and hopefully, take action on).

Interestingly, it’s not just in their emails that they’re doing this; it’s in certain display ads too.

After Bellroy justify why they’re running the promotion, they explain how the offer works:

And it leaves nothing to the reader’s imagination.

Beneath these three statements is a P.S., where Bellroy invite readers NOT to forward the email to friends, knowing, of course, that this is exactly what will likely happen.

Bellroy’s playful use of reverse psychology in their email copy.

Much like little hinges swing big doors, micro-tweaks to your copy move more orders. Don’t leave it to chance.

Action item. When running a promotion, explain how readers can claim their offer, step-by-step, to reduce confusion. Bonus: think about how you can encourage referrals. You don’t have to use reverse psychology like Bellroy do in their P.S., but it might help.

iii. User-Experience

After explaining how readers can claim their Black Friday discount, Bellroy include a call-to-action (CTA) in the email.

When I clicked “Shop Now,” Bellroy auto-applied my credit (much like how MeUndies do for listeners coming from their podcast sponsorships).

When I added an item to my cart and checked out, Bellroy deducted €15 and showed me how much I’d saved. (Note: Bellroy chose Euros as my preferred currency because I’m in Sweden and they don’t accept Swedish Krona.)

While their competitors bombard their visitors with Black Friday reminders, Bellroy create exclusivity.

Buying discounted goods from them was a right reserved ONLY for email subscribers. In fact, when I tried to get a discount ON Black Friday, after pretending I wasn’t on their list, Bellroy said no (and rightfully so).

What I love about Bellroy’s strategy is that it isn’t limited to Black Friday. You can use it for ANY holiday. Christmas. Easter. Martin Luther King Day. You name it. The possibilities are endless. Get moving.

Takeaway. Generate demand for holiday promotions BEFORE you need it. Drive traffic to a dedicated landing page, grow your list, create as much buzz as possible, and then give your buyers the exclusivity they deserve.

Strategy #2: Use “The Life Force 8” to Maximize Ad Conversions

There are two things you need to know about Bellroy’s marketing strategy.

One, 23.80% of their overall desktop traffic comes from display ads.

And two, they leverage three marketing angles in their ad copy.

But it’s not just any three marketing angles— these are angles that build on what are known as The Life Force 8.

Bellroy appeal to three of the above angles in many of their top-converting display ads.

Let’s look at each briefly.

1. Being Superior, Winning, Keeping up with the Joneses

To all intents and purposes, Bellroy’s core offer is slim leather wallets for men. And after browsing their site for a few minutes, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

But when you take a look at their paid advertising, it’s clear that they’re marketing to a segment within that segment. Specifically, fashion-conscious marketing executives.

Why?

Because, generally, it’s a market segment that can and will happily pay more to fulfill the above innate desire to be superior.

You can see Bellroy appealing to superiority in ad copy, from inviting buyers to “Look the part…”

…to naming the product itself “The Executive Wallet.”

Interestingly, the products Bellroy promote in the above ads and other similar ones, are also some of their more high-end items. Coincidence? Maybe. But with ad copy like the above, it’s hard to disagree with.

2. Freedom from Fear, Pain, and Danger

“Positioning is not about creating something new and different,” write Al Ries and Jack Trout in their book, Positioning. “It’s about manipulating what’s already in the prospect’s mind. It’s about bridging the connections that already exist.”

One thing that’s in the mind of a Bellroy customer is the fear of losing their valuables when travelling.

Bellroy recognize that, and with the information in mind, position their travel collection as a remedy to that fear in many of their ads.

…to naming the product itself “The Executive Wallet.”

When you click “Learn More,” Bellroy redirect you to a product page with copy that reassures and reiterates the above solution….to naming the product itself “The Executive Wallet.”

Not only are they following best practice in terms of message matching (i.e. ensuring their messaging is consistent, from their ads to their landing pages); but they’re also freeing their customers from pain, while positioning their product as a solution in the process.

3. Care and Protection of Loved Ones

Have you ever regretted making a purchase? Of course you have. You’re not alone; we’re all guilty of it from time to time. Buyer’s remorse, as it’s known, is very real. Oftentimes, we buy something expensive only to convince ourselves later that we shouldn’t have bought it.

But what if your purchase benefited a cause greater than yourself? How would you rationalize it then?

While researching this post, I saw an interesting Facebook carousel ad from Bellroy. Take a look at the ad copy:

Knowing that caring and protecting loved ones is an innate emotional trigger, Bellroy frames their offer as benefiting others rather than the individual. How? With the sentiment, “Helping yourself helps others, too.”

“Need we go on?” they ask.

No. That’s as good a reason as any to buy.

Takeaway. Use one or several of the above Life Force 8 angles to inspire marketing angles in your paid advertising. Pro tip: use Facebook’s Dynamic Creative to test different angles against one another.

Strategy #3: The Marketer Magnet Method: How to Rank a Product Page Position #3

Using a tool like Ahrefs, we can see that Bellroy rank for several high-volume commercial-intent keywords. But the one I want to focus on here is the keyword “slim wallet.”

At the time of writing, Bellroy ranks position #3 for that term. But they also have a whopping 396 domains linking to the relevant product page (339 of which are do-follow).

How are they doing it?

Well, one approach, intentional or not, is what I call “The Marketer Magnet Method.”

I’ve written about it before, but it bears repeating because there are NO limits to its usage.

As a reminder, “The Marketer Magnet Method” involves approaching marketing in such an interesting way that marketing blogs can’t help but link to you.

Bellroy has earned their fair share of backlinks for marketing that is so original, marketers can’t help but write about it.

Takeaway. Take a look at your marketing. What are you doing that’s original or uncommon in your industry? We grew tired of seeing GIFs in marketing emails, so we created our own. Marketers took notice, and we got a few links for doing so. Don’t get discouraged if you’re a small business; standing out is often easier than you think.

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Customer trust has always been a big deal. But Vanessa Mitchell, a senior journalist at CMO, says it’s more important than ever.

Customer trust is a key brand differentiator that can make or break a business. It’s integral to a company’s self-perseverance and long-term sustainability. That’s why it’s something that brands need to take seriously.

One area where customers are particularly vulnerable is when they’re giving out personal information. If mishandled, it can make them victims of identity theft, which can affect their finances, create stress and take an emotional toll.

Trust badges (or trust seals) are a way brands are put their customers at ease. But do they really work? Will trust badges make customers feel more comfortable handing over sensitive information online and increase your conversions and sales?

I recently did a TON of research to answer the above questions. And today, I want to share with you my findings. Plus, how you can use them to inform your marketing strategy.

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Shopping cart abandonment is an issue that plagues many e-commerce stores. Barilliance reports that on average, brands lose 75 percent of sales because of this. And in some industries, the average shopping cart abandonment is as high as 83.6 percent.

One of the main reasons for this high average is concerns about payment security. Statista found this was the primary reason that 15 percent of US digital shoppers abandoned their shopping carts in 2015.

That number grew to 19 percent in 2017, according to the Baymard Institute.

And this is totally understandable. Data security has been a huge problem as of late. It’s nearly impossible not to hear about a recent data breach in the news. Just look at how frequently data records are lost or stolen, according to Breach Level Index.

It’s over 6 million records every day and 71 every second. That’s crazy! No wonder people are little skittish about forking over their personal information. Any carelessness on the company’s end and they can wind up in big trouble. Highly sensitive payment information can end up in the hands of cybercriminals, opening a huge can of worms.

So consumers want to know that any company they do business with is following online security best practices and their payment information will be safe.

If there’s any doubt, a good portion of online shoppers simply won’t go through with the transaction. And this goes beyond online payments. Many people aren’t comfortable with sharing personal information on sign up pages, information portals and so on.

Trust Badges as a Solution

To combat this problem, more and more companies are adding trust badges to their sites.

“A trust badge is a symbol placed on your website that ensures your visitors that the page is legitimate and that all their data is collected through secure third-party service providers,” Omniconvert explains.

“The trust seal company that agrees to place their badge on your website confirms that your business is authentic, therefore users know that all processes taking place on your website are safe and secure,” they add.

With just a glance, consumers know that you’re taking measures to keep their information secure, which helps your brand appear more trustworthy.

Here’s an example of trust badges in action.

If there was any doubt as to your company’s level of online security, a trust badge should put it to rest. Or at the very least, reduce a customer’s anxieties.

Do Trust Badges Work?

Sure, trust badges look good and add an air of professionalism. But do they have a legitimate impact? The answer is yes.

Numerous studies have found that there is a positive correlation between trust badges and increased conversions and sales.

One involved New York-based digital marketing agency Blue Fountain Media. They performed a simple A/B test on their sign up page to see what effect adding a Verisign trust badge would have.

Here’s what the original page looked like without the Verisign trust badge.

And here’s what the test page looked like with the Verisign trust badge.

The result? Far more people trusted the second test version with the trust badge, and it led to a whopping 42 percent increase in sales. Their data found that this simple change helped visitors feel more confident about providing Blue Fountain media with their personal information.

Another example is Virtual Sheet Music, a company that provides downloadable sheet music for piano, guitar, violin, and other instruments. The company initially used a Verisign trust badge but removed it due to contractual agreements.

When this happened, they experienced a noticeable drop in sales. But once they put the trust badge back on their site, conversions increased by 31 percent. Virtual Sheet Music then went on to switch to an EV SSL Certificate, which resulted in an additional 13 percent in sales.

While I can’t say that every single brand will experience a dramatic lift in conversions by adding a trust badge, it’s clear that many companies do see a positive impact.

If you’re experiencing issues with shopping cart abandonment, aren’t getting the conversions/sales you want and generally want to build more trust with customers, this is a great way to do it.

How Big of an Impact Do Trust Badges Have?

Actualinsights* asked study participants two key questions to see how big an impact trust badges had.

Here’s the first question.

As you can see, over 60 percent of consumers didn’t make a purchase simply because there were no trust badges. Apparently, they still had a significant amount of doubt regarding a brand’s security measures when trust badges weren’t present.

Here’s the second question.

A whopping 75 plus percent of people didn’t buy because they didn’t recognize the particular logos. This shows that it’s also important to use the right trust badges—ones that people recognize.

Failing to include them or using the wrong ones can be a potential deal breaker.

Trust Badges Are Especially Important for SMBs

I should also point out that trust badges tend to be more important for SMBs than much larger businesses. Companies like Amazon, Target and Best Buy are already large, well-established brands. People already know who they are, and there’s a fairly deep level of built-in trust.

However, SMBs aren’t as well established. People may have never heard of a particular SMB, making it more difficult to gain their trust when providing sensitive information. Therefore, it’s the smaller companies that usually benefit the most by adding trust badges.

Which Trust Badges Work the Best?

Here’s the thing. It’s vital that you choose the right trust badges on your site. With so many different options available, you want to be sure to use the ones customers feel the most comfortable with.

So how do you know which trust badges to use? To find out, there are a few studies that I’d like to highlight.

One is a bit old from actualinsights* back in 2011, but it offers some nice data. They performed a study that asked consumers about 20 different trust badges and which ones they recognized most.

Here are the specific ones they tested.

And here’s a heat map indicating which ones consumers recognized the most.

Looking at these results, we can tell that the following had the best recognition:

McAfee

Verisign

PayPal

Better Business Bureau

TRUSTe

A separate study by The Baymard Institute in 2013 asked respondents, “Which badge gives you the best sense of trust when paying online?”

Here’s a graph of what they found.

There’s quite a bit of overlap with the study from actualinsights*, and they also found that McAfee, TRUSTe and the Better Business Bureau were well recognized and trusted. They also found that Norton (which at the time was powered by Verisign) was the most trusted of all.

Therefore, these are the trust badges that I recommend the most at the moment.

While their popularity and trustworthiness could certainly wane in the future, it’s clear that people feel comfortable with brands that use these particular trust badges.

As ConversionXL points out, the more familiar a badge is, the more likely consumers are to perceive the site that’s using it as being secure.

In other words, you don’t want to associate yourself with some no-name company that no one has ever heard of. That can end up doing more harm than good.

Instead, you’ll want to stick with the big names that have strong reputations.

When to Use Trust Badges

E-commerce stores have the most to gain. Any time you have customers who must provide their payment card information to complete a purchase, it’s important that they feel comfortable with your security. Trust badges are a great way to reassure them when taking payment.

As I mentioned earlier, this can be huge for reducing shopping cart abandonment and encouraging customers to complete transactions. It’s also important from a general security standpoint.

Website security is a big area of concern these days. The sites that emphasize security and take measures to protect visitors have an advantage of others who are more relaxed about it.

Google has even confirmed that Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is now a ranking signal. Backlinko explains that domains with HTTPS tend to rank higher than those with just HTTP, which is evident with this graph.

So it’s not a bad idea to add an SSL trust badge to your site so people know that you’re using HTTPS.

Nearly everyone can benefit from this. Finally, there’s the matter of privacy.

Facebook made major headlines about their privacy issues in 2018. The General Data Protection Regulation was also enacted in the same year, which dictates how companies within the European Union (or those doing business with companies within it) handle customer data. This means that privacy is something that’s on many people’s radars.

So it’s not a bad idea to let consumers know that you’re taking adequate measures to protect their privacy. TRUSTe is one of the best trust badges for addressing that.

Where to Place Trust Badges

There are two main places you’ll want to add trust badges. One is the checkout page.

This helps people who were considering abandoning their shopping cart get over the hump. It creates trust at an incredibly important time and increases the likelihood that a customer goes through with the transaction. Usually, you’ll want to place them right near the checkout button. That way, a shopper’s eyes will naturally gravitate toward the trust badges.

The other is on landing pages when you’re asking for personal information.

Remember that it’s not just payment card information that people are wary of sharing. It’s anything that can lead to identity theft. Their name, address, social security number, and even medical information can potentially be used by cyber-criminals. But you can set their minds at ease by strategically incorporating trust seals whenever you’re asking for sensitive information.

For landing pages, I generally recommend placing them within close proximity to the call-to-action (CTA). However, you’ll probably want to perform some A/B testing to see what the optimal location is.

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It’s understandable that many customers are cautious when giving out personal information online. A growing number of data breaches have put them on edge.

Whether it’s their payment card information or simply their name and address, many need some coaxing before they feel comfortable, especially when dealing with a brand they’re unfamiliar with. And that’s where trust badges come in.

There’s no denying that they have a positive impact on conversions and sales and are great for quelling the fears of consumers. Multiple studies have proven this. The long-term boost in revenue should justify the investment. So I definitely recommend experimenting with them.

Are you more likely to make a purchase from a company that uses trust badges?

Imagine a friend comes over to help you put together flat pack furniture.

You’re grateful for their assistance, but you say to them, “While you’re here, can you just take a look at…”

Well, your e-commerce customers are just like that friend. Meaning, you want to get the most out of them while you have their time.

In other words, when you have them, there, in your hands, you should do your darndest to get them to spend more. Because increasing your average order value (AOV) means you can increase your profits—without having to lure in a bunch of new customers.

Note that they market this service for gifts that are, “Designed by Burberry, personalized by you.”

To increase your AOV, offer personalization as a specialist service or as an add-on at the checkout stage.

You could also offer custom designs or custom features to up the average spend.

For instance, most sportswear companies, such as Converse, now sell custom sneakers at a higher cost:

Customers want the option of personalization with a monogramming service or similar.

That’s why the market is worth so much.

So, why not give customers what they want and increase AOV while you’re at it?

2. Create a Personal Shopper Bot

When you go into a brick and mortar store, sales assistants always approach you.

It can be a bit annoying. But, let’s be honest, sometimes you genuinely need some assistance.

The same is true for online stores. In e-commerce, sales assistants are available via live chat. The great thing about live chat is that customers are 4.6 times more likely to convert after live chat support. And they spend 60% more on average.

That is a huge potential increase in average order value.

You can use AI for live chat by offering a customer service bot or, even better, through a personal shopping assistance like Sleeknote’s Guide Your Visitors.

Outdoor clothing brand, The North Face, has a bot to help customers find the perfect jacket:

You could create a similar bot that genuinely helps customers. And at the same time recommend upsells and cross-sells to increase AOV.

3. Offer a Minimum Spend Discount

Pretty much every e-commerce store offers free shipping nowadays. I’m not saying you shouldn’t offer free shipping. That would be silly. But it’s less of an incentive for customers to increase their spend as it’s so ubiquitous.

You should try something a little different like offering a minimum spend discount, too.

For instance, you get half off pizzas with a minimum spend at Papa John’s every Tuesday:

Big name retailers are also fans of the minimum spend discount.

British e-commerce store, Very, for instance, offers 10% off when you spend £100 or more in their home and garden section:

An even better method is to feature your discount in a promotional campaign. It’s a non-invasive but constant reminder to make a higher purchase. And an excellent way to get customers to purchase more products on average.

Shipping is $4.99. But I only need to add $5.50 to get free shipping. So, I might as well make another purchase while I’m here.

That’s the customer thought process.

Show customers exactly how much more they need to spend and they will more than likely add further items to their cart.

5. Offer a Free Gift When Customers Spend More

This is another way to incentivize a higher AOV. It’s unique, because how many businesses give out freebies? Very few. And customers dig a freebie. Free gifts are one of the most popular holiday promotions among shoppers:

Customers want value for money. Hence, a free gift makes them feel like they are getting a good deal … even if they spend more.

MyProtein runs promotions where they offer a free gift in exchange for a minimum spend:

They provide free gifts on top of other promotions. Which makes the deal super appealing.

6. Create a Tier-Based Loyalty Program

Generic loyalty programs are already fantastic for boosting your AOV. Most businesses see an AOV increase of 13.71% from their loyalty program customers. A rewards system helps you form a relationship with customers. Thus, encouraging them to return and spend more.

Tier-based loyalty programs add extra exclusivity and encourage an even greater spend. Everybody wants to be a VIP, sauntering through velvet ropes, after all.

Customers earn status based on how much they spend. As their status goes up they reap more and more benefits. Benefits include things like invites to events, vouchers and early access to products.

You could do the same by rewarding customers that spend the most at your online store.

The easiest way to do this would be to offer bronze, silver and gold status to loyalty program customers. Doing so guarantees an increase in average order value because it gamifies the shopping experience, inviting customers to move up to the next level.

Our hope is that the new Kohl’s Rewards program will allow us to do three things: connect with new customers in a different way, deepen the relationship with customers and simplify Kohl’s value proposition.

Obviously, they hope to increase average order value, too, but they can’t just come out and say it.

You can steal Kohl’s idea and create a digital wallet, in which loyal customers can store their cashback rewards. There are many types of loyalty program out there. You just need to consider which is most likely to increase average order value.

8. Provide Finance Options for Expensive Items

Not everybody can afford that flashy piece of tech or a brand new sofa. They might want such an item but can’t pay for it off the bat. But providing the chance to pay in installments can increase sales by 40%.

By offering financing options, you can increase your average order value over time.

They combine financing options with further selling tactics. Offering $50 in gift cards makes the proposal enticing. And they add a sense of urgency to the deal by offering it for a limited time. Clearly, Apple knows what they’re doing.

And you can do the same by suggesting installment plans on your more expensive items.

9. Sell Small Add-Ons that Amount to More Revenue

How do you get people to purchase more items from your store?

As you already know, you have to target impulse buyers with cross-sells. And cross-selling is a big deal.

But you don’t always have to recommend high-ticket items to your customers. Instead, tempt them with small add-ons.

The Perfume Shop, for instance, let’s you add gift wrapping to your order for just £1-£1.50:

Because the deal is so cheap, it’s likely to attract a lot of customers.

If you sell furniture, you could recommend an accompanying care kit. Or, if you sell shoes, you could recommend shoe polish and so on. Naturally, extras like these increase average order value. And collectively, each additional purchase can add up to big revenue.

10. Bundle Products into “Starter Packs”

This is slicker than your average cross-sell. Naturally, bundles give customers the opportunity to purchase your products at a lower price than buying them individually.

Putting together a “starter pack” is even better. It introduces people to your brand and is the first step in building customer loyalty. And just as important, it encourages customers to increase their spend from the get-go.

See how this Spanish food store, The Tapas Lunch Co., offers a paella starter pack that even includes a free gift:

You can get creative with this idea and build different types of cross-sell packages. Your existing customers, for instance, don’t need a starter pack. But they may want a more advanced pack that provides them with upgrades on their previous purchases.

Thus, you are able to target individuals at different stages of the customer lifecycle.

When you scroll through Bellroy’s product listing pages, you’ll see a little button that reads “Show Inside.” When clicked, you can see what you can fit into that specific wallet, together with a short description and visualization of the items.

And it gets better.

When you visit one of their product pages, you’ll see a “Size Comparison Tool” which allows you to compare the wallet to several items that you are certainly familiar with: Credit card, passport, key, iPhone or Dollar Bills.

Knowing the struggles of online shoppers, Bellroy successfully solves this common problem and helps visitors picture the product in real life situations.

Upselling and cross-selling, however, are two big strategies. And there are many different ways you can use them on your product pages to increase revenue.

Today, I’ll share two of my favorites that you might have overlooked. They’re simple but highly effective.

9. Upsell One-Time Products with Subscriptions

The most traditional upselling method is recommending the visitor a more expensive product alternative.

But there are better and more profitable ways to upsell.

Turning one-time purchases into subscriptions on your product pages is one of the smartest upselling strategies.

By upselling with subscriptions, you can increase the lifetime value of your customers.

Instead of a one-time order, you can get regular payments and potentially gain loyal customers.

But how do you convince visitors to make such a big commitment?

For this upsell strategy to work, you need to be clear about the benefits of choosing the subscription model. If you don’t give visitors a good reason to become a long-term customer, they wouldn’t be willing to spend more.

That’s why, in 2011, he borrowed $1,000 from his wife and created a site to help people find the perfect gift for their loved ones.

Today, that site, Man Crates, is one of the fastest growing companies in America, with a staggering growth rate of 4900.2%. And what was once a three-team operation running out of a garage is now a 50-person company with multiple distribution centers across the U.S.

I’ve had my eye on Man Crates for months now, and they keep surprising me with new ways to engage their audience and create memorable experiences for both gift-givers and gift-receivers.

So, I decided to follow in Sam’s footsteps and reverse-engineer Man Crates marketing strategy to learn exactly what they’re doing to grow their business (and how you can too).

Let’s get started.

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For many, myself included, giving gifts is just as exciting as receiving them (if not more).

You want to find that perfect gift that shows your loved one just how much you care, but it isn’t always easy.

Beekman and the team at Man Crates has done more than recognize the above problem and solved it. In fact, they’ve gone one step further and redefined what it means to buy the perfect gift for a loved one.

When it comes to gift-giving, Man Crates know that it’s not just about the buyer’s anticipation for giving the perfect gift. Rather, it’s about their anticipation for finding it (and in many cases, buying it). So, they’ve built anticipation into each stage of the buyer’s journey to create a memorable buying experience. And, as we’ll see through the post, it works like a charm.

If you scroll further down the front page, you’ll find that there’s little sales copy anywhere pushing people to buy a product.

Why?

Because, if you scroll further down the page, you’ll notice that much of their copy emphasizes gift-giving. Further, there’s little, if any, CTAs to buy their products.

There’s a good reason for this.

If we look at their organic keywords, we can see that Man Crates ranks for several variations of “gifts for men” and “man crates.”

As you can see, the search intent is not a specific gift or product, but an idea about a type of gift.

With that in mind, Man Crates match their users’ search intent as much as possible. They know that’s what visitors are looking for, so that’s what they give them when they arrive on their site for the first time.

And with 64.34% of their traffic coming from organic search, it’s a sound strategy. (Source.)

It’s important to mention here that we usually exclude branded terms when going through a site’s organic report because they doesn’t reveal much about how the site’s acquiring customers.

But with Man Crates, it’s hard to determine whether the term “man crates” applies to Man Crates the brand, or man crates, as in, crates for men.

For instance, if you Google “man crates” and look at Google’s related terms, you’ll see searching also looking for best man crates, homemade man crates, mini man crates and more. Meaning, there are different types of man crates that aren’t limited to Man Crates product line.

Man Crates don’t assume that people who search for man crates know about their products and are ready to buy.

That’s why the focus on their front page is on helping visitors find the perfect gift, before asking them to make a purchase.

No fuss. No confusion, No salesy “buy now” buttons. Just a low-commitment CTA to check out their products.

Takeaway. Identify which keywords drive the most traffic to your site, and the search intent behind these keywords. Are your visitors looking for how-to guides, gift ideas, or specific products? Whatever it is, incorporate this into your site’s front page copy to meet your visitors where they are in the buyer’s journey.

Strategy #2: Use Visual Storytelling to Build Anticipation

Your product pages are probably the most important pages on your site.

If you don’t position your product right on these pages, your visitors won’t buy.

Man Crates have added a unique strategy to all their product pages to build anticipation and convince prospects that they’ve found the perfect gift.

It’s storytelling.

Take the product description for Man Crates’ Slumberjacks product, as an example:

It’s not your average product description; Man Crates wants you to feel just as excited about this product as they are.

The story is highly-visual and builds anticipation because prospects can visualize their chosen man using the product (even though he might not be chopping wood on a daily basis).

As famous poet and civil rights advocate, Mary Angelou, once said: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

The story (fictional or not) isn’t just a fun way to explain the details of the product. It also helps prospects remember the product. (Source).

Just think about Rosa Parks on the bus. We remember her because of the bus story and not for all the other activist work she did.

(Plus, it gives you a few pointers to impress your man with when you give the gift. “Did you know that flannel dates back to 17th century Wales?” That ought to give you a few bonus points.)

Takeaway. Tell stories about your products to make them more unique and memorable. Have fun with it and make sure your stories align with your brand’s voice.

Strategy #3: Tease the Unboxing Experience to Reduce Cart Abandonment

If there’s one strategy Man Crates have nailed it’s teasing the unboxing experience.

Man Crates promote the unboxing experience as a huge part of the gift-getting experience (more on this later). And they’ve found two clever ways to build anticipation during checkout.

First, Man Crates have a delivery estimate feature where you enter your zip code, and they tell you when your package will arrive.

(When you get a date for the arrival of a package, that’s when you start getting excited, right?)

It’s a great way to personalize the shopping experience and build anticipation. But it’s also practical for visitors who are shopping for gifts last minute and need to check if it will arrive in time.

Second, and probably my favorite addition, is the package preview.

I mean, “a sealed wooden crate with a laser-etched crowbar.” How cool is that?

By showing prospects what the package will look like upon delivery, they tease the unboxing experience and also reduces the likelihood of cart abandonment.

The more anticipation you can build through your entire funnel, the easier it will be to turn visitors into customers.

Takeaway. Think about unique ways you can get prospects excited about your product. Maybe it’s a preview of the package like Man Crates. Maybe it’s a short video of a customer using the product. Or maybe it’s something else. When people are excited about a product, they want to buy it. It’s that simple.

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I found a LOT of amazing strategies while writing this post, but I couldn’t include them all. So, as a bonus, I’ve compiled a swipe file of Man Crates’ best marketing materials, including 5 bonus strategies and the full video of Matthew’s unboxing experience. (Plus, toolkits for other multi-million dollar brands like Harry’s and Casper.)

So, I decided to get our developer, Matthew, who lives in Minnesota, an extra Christmas present. (You can see his reaction in Strategy #5).

This is Matthew. (Don’t ask about the glitter beard):

To personalize the shopping experience during checkout, Man Crates gives you the possibility to include a personal note.

This isn’t new.

What is new is if you’re not a copywriter, or simply don’t know how to express your feelings on a postcard, Man Crates will do it for you.

With their personal note generator, you can choose who the receiver of the gift is and generate a pre-written message for them.

This is not just for fun. It’s yet another trick to build anticipation and get people excited about giving the present. Plus, the pre-written messages is a great way to reduce friction during checkout.

Here’s the one I chose for Matthew:

Takeaway. Offer customers a chance to add notes to their orders? Inspire them to choose a pre-written message. This will help create a memorable shopping experience, making customers more likely to return to your site in future.

Strategy #5: Create a Share-Worthy Unboxing Experience

When you get a gift, the unboxing is a big part of the gift-getting experience.

Imagine getting a present that’s not wrapped…

…it’s just not as exciting, is it?

Man Crates know the importance of this and have transformed the unboxing of their products into a memorable, fun, and share-worthy experience for any man receiving a man crate.

Get the full unboxing video, plus 5 bonus strategies and other goodies here.

When you create share-worthy unboxing experiences, you generate a LOT of brand awareness.

Just like Matthew, many other Man Crates customers film the unboxing experience and post it on YouTube. (The videos people share of their unboxing experience also serve as reviews and social proof which Man Crates can repurpose on their site.)

Just look at what comes up when you search “Man Crates” on Youtube:

Three out of the top five results are reviews from customers sharing their unboxing experience.

Granted, we don’t know if any of these videos are sponsored, but I noticed something interesting when watching Matthew’s video…

…Man Crates encourages customers to share their experience on social media by adding a small call-to-action (CTA) to the lid on each gift:

They make the process of sharing your experience look easy, and they tap into people’s feeling of wanting to “show off.”

In his book Contagious, Jonah Berger discusses how businesses can create virality around their brand and product. He uses the term social currency, which means that consumers share content as a way to “buy” the interest of their peers.

You can capitalize on this by creating content that’s unusual or remarkable to stimulate a discussion among consumers.

Just look at Man Crates. They create a unique unboxing experience that drives anticipation and curiosity.

Watching someone open a man crate, makes you want to try it out for yourself to see if you can evoke that same feeling in the person you’re giving a gift to.

Takeaway. Consider how you can create a memorable and share-worthy unboxing experience for your product. The more unique and interesting it is, the more likely people are to share it. You can also send free samples to influencers and celebrities and ask them to share their unboxing experience.

Instead of asking customers if they’d like to set up a second reminder for Father’s Day, they ask a question you most likely won’t say no to. (You wouldn’t set up a reminder for your dad’s birthday if you didn’t appreciate him, right?)

This is clever marketing because answering a question like this seems like a smaller commitment than agreeing to set up another email reminder.

When you click through, you get an overview of your reminders for this person and you can add more for other occasions.

When you confirm you get a final overview, and the option to set up reminders for other men in your life.